With the rising cost of energy and its effect on expense for heating homes and offices, various attempts have been made to improve the efficiency of the heating systems by reducing energy consumption and recovering heat that might otherwise be wasted. However, these systems suffer from several drawbacks and have not been able to provide a simple, dependable, and efficient system which employs otherwise wasted heat and converts such wasted heat directly into useable heat.
One of the principal losses of heat, and the energy needed to create that heat, is found in the heated air exiting from the furnace up and out of the chimney. Consequently, many prior art systems have been developed to attempt to solve this energy loss. However, these systems suffer from various drawbacks and have been unable to efficiently achieve their major goal. Principally, these prior art systems suffer from the need for additional equipment which is prone to fail. Of the several different systems which have been developed, the only system of which I am aware which is related to my invention is U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,303. In this patent, a heat saving smoke pipe attachment is disclosed. However, the attachment disclosed therein suffers from the difficulties discussed by requiring electrically driven equipment to establish the requisite air flow. In addition, the attachment fails to provide sufficient heat transfer capability which would fully employ the heat lost from the heated air exiting from the furnace flue.
Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide an energy recovery system which is capable of optimizing the recovery of heat from the air exiting from a furnace to its chimney, and using the recovered heat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an energy recovery system having the characteristic features described above which requires no moving parts and employs natural convection currents and air flow to achieve the energy recovery.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an energy recovery system having the characteristic features described above which is simple to manufacture and quickly and easily installable in position for operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an energy recovery system having the characteristic features described above which is readily positionable for maximum heat recovery as well as optimum distribution of the recovered heat to useable areas, without in any way degrading or reducing the efficacy of the furnace.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.